Telephone order-desk.



No. 767,356. PATENTED AUG. 9, 1904. J. W. SCHMIDT.

TELEPHONE ORDER DESK.

APPLIGATION FILED DEC. 16, 1903.

I Z'J P7 QTFTT' NO MODEL,

lvlbmooco UNITED STATES Patented August 9, 1904.

JOHN W. SCHMIDT, OF BROOKLYN, NEWV YORK.

TELEPHONE ORDER-DESK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 767,356, dated August 9, 1904, Application filed December 16, 1903. Serial No. 185,358. (No model.)

To all 1077,0111 it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN WV. SCHMIDT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Telephone Order-Desks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to telephone orderdesks-that is to say, to that class of desks designed to be attached to a wall adjacent to a wall-telephone set and which comprise a suitable writing-surface over which paper can be drawn or fed from a conveniently-located supply.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple, convenient, and practical article of the type mentioned which shall be an improvement over prior existing devices of this nature, and the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, will disclose the construction whereby I attain this object.

The various points of advantage will appear in the disclosure of the structure by which they are obtained, and finally in the claims drawn to cover said structure.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved desk. Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a detail of the pawl and ratchet used to feed the paper, and Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional View through the feed rollers and of the paper guiding and cutting oif means.

In the figures, 1 represents the writing-table, and 2 the brackets by which it can be attached to a wall. As shown, the brackets 2 are further used to support a reel of paper 3, mounted between flanges 4: on an arbor 5, which is passed through apertures in said brackets and clamped in place by nuts.

J ournaled above the reel 3 and immediately beneath the rear or upward end of the table 1 is the feed-roller 6, around which the web of paper is first passed as it comes from the reel. To cooperate with this roller 6 in feeding forward the paper, there are provided means for mounting another roller, 7, above the roller 6 and for yieldingly pressing the former downwardlyinto engagement with the latter, such means consisting of standards 8 8,

in which the journal-boxes of the upper roller are guided, and springs 9 9 acting on the upper side of these boxes. After passing between the rollers 6 and 7, the table 1 being slotted or cut away for the full length of said rollers,the web is led through a guide 10, consisting, in the form shown, of two sheet-metal plates assembled with a suificient space between them to enable the paper to pass easily and with the lower plate extended, as at 11, to form means whereby the guide can be at tached to the table. Immediately in front of said guide the paper passes beneath the cutting-blade 12, which is made relatively heavy and is pivotally suspended by arms 14 14 from the standards 8 8.

There now remains to be described the means for manually rotating the lower feed-roller 6, and thereby positively feeding the paper. As will be seen in Fig. 1, said roller carries at one end the pinion l5, and this latter is engaged by the large gear-wheel 16, suitably journaled on one of the brackets. gear-wheel 16 is the ratchetwheel 17 and loosely journaled on the same axis is the lever 18, the upper end of which is guided in a slot 19 provided for it in one side of the table 1. Said lever on the side adjacent to the ratchet-wheel is provided With the two lugs 20,

which cooperate with the face of the gearwheel 16 to form a closed channel or guideway for the pawl 21, which is urged downward to engage the teeth of the ratchet-wheel by a spring 22.

The operation or manner of use of the desk just described is as follows, assuming the paper to be in place and a piece to have been already cut off therefrom: The desk is mounted on the wall at the side of the telephone, so that a person can conveniently carry on a conversation by the telephone and make notes on the desk at the same time, which of course necessitates that one hand be occupied in holding the receiver to the ear, this leaving only one hand free to attend to the writing. By raising the lever 18 with the free hand the ratchet, and gear wheels, and consequently also the feed-roller 6, is rotated, the pawl slipping over the ratchet upon the return of said lever to its first position. Roller 7, be-

Rigid with i ing pressed down onto roller 6 by the springs 9, is of course rotated in the opposite direction thereby, and. a certain definite length of paper is fed out over the table 1. After the message is noted the paper can easily be torn off against the blade 12, or if more paper is needed the lever operation is simply repeated, omitting the cutting off of the paper.

It will now be seen that none of the paper is exposed to dust and dirt when a message is not being taken, there being normally no paper on the face of the table on account of the location of the cutting-blade adjacent to the feed-rollers. The guide 10 as well as the feedrollers 6 and 7 provide for the feed of the paper being always kept square, which it is impossible to maintain where the paper is un reeled by grasping the end in the hand.

The rollers may be covered with rubber 24:, as is customary, and a pencil-rack 25 may conveniently be provided in the position shown.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, and without intending to limit myself in every instance to the precise forms, dimensions, or materials shown, what I do desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is as follows:

1. A telephone order-desk comprising a wall-bracket having a forwardly-inclined writing-surface, means to support a reel of paper underneath the same, a pair of feed-rollers arranged at the back of said writing-surface and with their pass in the plane of said surface, a cutting edge supported above said surface immediately in front of said rollers, and means to positively rotate one of said rollers, substantially as set forth.

2. In a telephone order-desk, the combination with a writing-surface,having a slot therein, means to support a roll of paper underneath the same, means to guide and positively feed the web of paper from the roll up through said slot onto the said surface, and means adjacent to said slot to cutoff the web, substantially as set forth.

3. In a telephone order-desk, the combination with a writing-surface provided with means for attachment to a wall and for carrying a reel of paper underneath said surface, a pair of feed-rollers at one end of said surface, manual means to positively rotate one of said rollers, the other of said rollers being yieldingly pressed against the first, a guide to receive the web of paper from the rollers and conduct it onto said writing-surface and a cutting edge supported adjacent to said guide, substantially as set forth.

4. In a telephone order-desk, the combination with a writing-surface having means for attachment to awall and for supporting a roll of paper, of a pair of feed-rollers at one end of said surface with their pass in the plane thereof, standards in which the bearings of the upper of said rollers can slide and springs located in said standards above said bearings, a cutting-blade pivotallysuspended from said standards and having its edge normally a short distance in front of said rollers, and a manuallyoperated lever and connections therefor to the lower of said rollers, substantially as set forth.

5. In a telephone order-desk, the combination with awriting-surface, having provisions for supporting a roll of paper beneath the same, of a pair of feed-rollers at one end thereof, means to yieldingly press the upper of said rollers toward the lower, a pinion on the lower roller, a gear-wheel meshing therewith, a ratchet-wheel rigid with said gearwheel, a lever pivoted on the same axis as said gear and ratchet wheels, a sliding pawl carried in said lever, a spring to maintain said pawl in engagement with said ratchetwheel, and a cutting edge adjacent said feedrollers, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN W. SCHMIDT.

Witnesses:

HOWARD A. OooMBs, CARRIE L. MILLARD. 

